WCW Monday Nitro 9/4/1995

WCW Monday Nitro 9/4/1995

This is the debut episode of WCW Monday Nitro.

Eric Bischoff and Steve "Mongo" McMichael welcome us to the show which is live at The Mall of America. Mongo says this is a place to showcase championship athletes. Bobby Heenan comes in and shakes Mongo's hand. Mongo has some buzzer thing in his hand and shocks Bobby. Bobby puts him over and apparently made some jokes about him the night before. 

Flyin' Brian Pillman vs Jushin Thunder Liger

BP wristlocks Liger. Liger headflips out and reverses it. Liger koppo kicks him in the corner. Liger top rope moonsaults him then chinlocks him. BP headsicssors him out of the corner and hits chops. BP boots him out of the corner then 2nd rope hurricanrana's him. It gets botched though and BP goes down in a weird way.

BP grounded abdominal stretches Liger. Liger trips him and does a surfboard. BP headscissors him then goes over the top when Liger ducks. Liger cannonballs him off the apron outside.

BP pulls him over the top to the floor when they get back in. BP top rope crossbodies him. They go up top and Liger superplexes him. Liger comes off the top and is dropkicked. Liger powerbombs him then hurricanrana's him off the top for 2. BP tornado ddt's him for 2. BP rolls him up and wins it.

Thoughts: They did a lot of flying here and definitely did too much. There wasn't a lot of selling but it was fast paced and had a lot of action. I would have cut a few minutes off of this one due to it being the opener on a new show. I liked it at first but ended up souring on it.

Sting does a promo on Ric Flair. He says no one can walk the aisle like he can and says no one can put the scorpion deathlock on better.

Eric Bischoff interviews Hulk Hogan, who is at Pastmania in The Mall of America. Hulk says Pastamania has gotten his Hulkamaniac's running wild. He said he has eaten a ton of Hulkaroo's and says he has Pastamania running through his brain. He says he will give Big Bubba a dose of his Hulkaroo's and body slam him. He says Bubba better up the waistline as Hulk is slim and trim and has been eating his Pastamania. He asks what Bubba will do when Pastamania, Hulk Hogan and the Pastamaniac's will run wild on him.

Thoughts: This was fun but obviously ridiculous. 

WCW US Title - Sting (c) vs Ric Flair

Lex Luger arrives and they ask what he is doing here. They say to get him out of here and call security. Sting and Flair stare at him.

They lock up, Sting backs off and does his yell. Flair shoulders him over, Sting leapfrogs him and gorilla press slams him. Sting hits another gorilla press slam and yells. Flair takes a hiptoss and a dropkick. Flair eye rakes him and hits chops. Sting no sells and fires up. Flair begs off and is gorilla press slammed again. Flair crossbodies him and both go over the top rope. Sting gorilla presses him back into the ring from the outside.

Sting misses a splash then bulldogs Flair. Flair back elbows him. We go to break and return. Sting throws him off the top then gorilla press slams him again. Arn Anderson comes out. Sting misses a top rope splash then Flair suplexes him. Sting no sells it then lariats Ric over a few times. Flair is thrown into the buckles, goes over to the apron and is lariated. Sting hits corner punches. Sting hiptosses him. Ric side headlock takeovers him  then Sting backslides him.

Sting top rope superplexes Flair. Sting stares at Arn and Ric chopblocks him. Flair puts the figure four on and Sting tries to turn it over. Flair blocks that by holding onto the ropes. Arn Anderson gets in the ring and the ref calls the match off.

Arn stares down Flair and they trade shots. Arn punch flurries him and they fight outside. Ric then heads to the back.

Thoughts: It was a good match though Sting did not sell a decent bit here. He was also really spamming the gorilla press slam early. They had a real athletic match with Flair doing more than he usually did and really flying around.

Scott Norton comes down and yells at the commentators. He gives Bischoff a piece of paper and pushes him. He then goes face to face with Mongo McMichael. Randy Savage then comes out and says if you want a reputation, how about him? Scott says let's do it and Macho says let's do it right now. Bischoff says you can't do this and tells Scott that he will never wrestle in WCW if he steps one foot in the ring. 

Thoughts: I just love how Norton and Savage come out and they don't let them go at it, they try to stop it. It was a wild segment though and felt real exciting. It was funny how seemingly everyone was coming down to ringside during the last segment.

We get a package on Sabu with various clips of him flying around.

We get a promo from Michael Wallstreet. He says the new generation is nothing more than the few generation. He says it's about power and money and says he's sure the IRS will be watching him real close. He says people will know he's a real player.

Thoughts: They didn't fill up the whole screen here and you could see the crowd on part of it. Michael brought up his old gimmick here.

They announce Randy Savage vs Scott Norton for next week.

WCW World Title - Hulk Hogan (c) vs Big Bubba

Bubba is shoved back on the lock-up. Bubba side headlocks him and Hulk shoulders him over. Bubba hits a boot and a punch. Bubba punch flurries him in the corner and splashes him. Hulk bangs Bubba's head off the buckle then hits punches.

Bubba eye pokes him and hits uppercuts. Bubba backbreakers him. Hulk boots Bubba out of the corner and hits mounted punches. Bubba leg lariats him on the ropes. Bubba slides out and grabs Jimmy Hart. He takes Hart's jacket. Hulk gets behind Bubba then hits shots.

Hulk chokes Bubba with Hart's jacket and hits jacket punches. Hulk corner lariats him and eye rakes him. Hulk hits a big slam on Bubba then elbow drops him. Hulk hits punches then Bubba fires back.

Buba slams hulk and Mongo calls Heenan "Bobby Hernia". Bubba misses a corner charge then Hulk hits punches. Bubba hits a sidewalk slam. Hulk hits punches then facekicks him. Hulk hits the legdrop and wins it.

Thoughts: I didn't think Bubba got enough heat on him here which hurt Hulk's comeback and win. Bubba moved well here and Hulk got the win as expected.

The Dungeon of Doom run down after. Hulk hits punches. Lex Luger gets in and helps beat up The Dungeon of Doom. Hulk and Lex nearly punch each other. They go face to face then Sting and Macho come down to separate them. They argue and the segment ends.

They have an advertisement for Fall Brawl, saying it's a benefit to help out muscular dystrophy.

Mean Gene is in the ring with Hulk, Luger, Sting, Macho and Hart. Hulk asks what Lex is doing here. Lex says people say Hulk is the top wrestler. He says Hulk has the belt and he's here to take it. Lex says he's been where he's been and beat the same people he beat. He said he's sick and tired of playing around with kids - he's here to take on the big boys. He says he will get his shot. Hulk says he's the champ and that's the way it will stay forever. He says he knows where Lex has been and he's been playing games. Hulk says when you come here and get in his face, there's thousands of Hulkster's behind him. He says you don't have to prove anything to him, just shake his hand and he will put the title on the line against him next week on Nitro. They shake on it and shove each other. Gene says he can't believe it.

We cut to commentary. Mongo has his dog in a devil costume. Eric promises big action next week. Mongo says you have a screw loose if you don't tune in next week.

Overall thoughts: It was a great debut episode here and one of the better wrestling shows I've seen. They really hit a home run with this one. It was action packed and fast paced. Lex Luger returned and felt like a big deal. We got a good Sting/Flair match and they set up some stuff for next week. The venue was also pretty cool and made the show feel more important. I definitely recommend this one and think this is the standard for debut shows.